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One US Department of Energy plug-in vehicle charging-station program is geared to turn this country into ... Norway? Not literally, but the DOE's EV Everywhere Workplace Charging Challenge was launched early last year to get more companies to install on-site charging stations in order to increase plug-in vehicle adoption. And while the uptake hasn't exactly caught up the rate of citizens in that notoriously EV-friendly Scandinavian country, the results are pretty impressive.

In a dramatic shift from previous forecasts, the Energy Department predicted Wednesday that the average price of gasoline in the U.S. will be $2.94 a gallon in 2015. That is a 44-cent drop from an outlook issued just a month ago.

The EPA is featuring a new tool online to help sell used cars. The agency teamed up with the Energy Department to create a tool that will generate fuel economy information for used cars that mimics the ones required on all new cars.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is continuing to show support for next-gen fuel cell systems. In June, DOE rolled out $9 million in grants to speed up the technology, and this month, an announcement was made that $4.5 will be invested in two projects focused on advanced fuel cell membranes. Minnesota based-3M will receive $3 million and the Colorado School of Mines will receive $1.5 million.

Following a record-setting year of plug-in electric vehicle sales in the US, the federal government is continuing an "all-of-the-above" alternative energy strategy to ensure folks don't forget about the wonders of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV). In fact, the US Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is borrowing four FCEVs from Toyota for a couple of years to see just how potentially wonderful they are.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest as much as $10 million in the development of battery-electric trucks, forklifts and other cargo vehicles in a further attempt to cut petroleum use by the domestic transportation industry.

The Detroit News reports Chrysler is walking away from the company's pursuit of low-interest Department of Energy loans. The automaker originally applied for an $8.55 billion loan when it was still under Cerberus Capital Management, though the figure had since shrunk to $3.5 billion. The DOE, meanwhile, said it was considering a much smaller $2 billion loan with additional restrictions than were previously negotiated. The loan period would also be significantly shorter. Chrysler had sought the f

Under pressure to remove billions of dollars from the annual budget, the Obama administration has released a plan that ends funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's clean-diesel grants and the Energy Department's hydrogen fuel-cell program. Electric transportation, on the other hand, is seen to benefit with a move to turn the current $7,500 tax credit into a point of purchase rebate.

While there have been rumors and suggested candidates floated for the so-called federal "car czar" post, it now no longer looks like that position will be filled. That's because President Barack Obama has apparently gone cold on the idea. Instead, new reports suggest that he will look to a select group of senior economic advisers for guidance.

About 40 years ago, Iowa State Chemistry professor John Verkade based his doctoral dissertation on a chemical compound, and only realized a few years ago that it may very well hold the key to breaking down the cellulose that forms the structure of a plant's cell walls.